Prove Yourself
by TacticianZephine
Summary: How did Starscream secure his place in the Decepticon ranks? And what happened to his fellow Seekers?
1. Chapter 1

**So, this is another of my notorious AUs, this time for TF:P. Just how did Starscream secure his place in the Decepticon Army, anyway?**

* * *

We entered the largest chamber, and genuflected when our optics fell upon the warlord. The throne was on a platform, raised up so that were I to stand at the bottom of the steps, my face would've perhaps been level with his feet. Lord Megatron was seated, surrounded by his Inner Circle. His personal guards. He wass a large, silver mech, his appearance spiky and intimidating, and he regarded us with a look of superiority.

I looked at the mechs and femmes surrounding him. The most intimidating to me was a tall, slender, faceless mech. He was mostly black, with some purple, and where his faceplates should be, there was only a blank screen. Next was a tall, purple mech with a single, burning red optic. They stand directly on either side of Lord Megatron.

At the bottom of this platform, however, was a small gathering of guards. On the side of the faceless mech, there stood a set of twin males, one primarily blue and gold, the other green and gray. They flanked a blue-plated female that I had once seen in the gladiator pits. On the side of the cycloptic mech was another trio. This one contained a large blue denter and a small red speedster. In front of them was a purple femme.

Lord Megatron rose to his feet and addressed us.

"State your business here," he rumbled.

"Lord Megatron," my brother answered, rising to his feet. "I am Thundercracker, and these are my brothers: Ramjet, Dirge, Sunstorm, Thrust, Skywarp, and Starscream. We seek to join your cause."

"Do you, now?" Lord Megatron sat back down, crossing his ankles. "Well, unfortunately, for you, that is, I simply won't take this large a group."

"But-" Skywarp started to stammer. "You're running an army!"

"Silence, fool!" Megatron barked. "After a failure with the last enlistment of a group, I will only take one. I have devised a trial to select the one I will accept."

"What is the trial?" we all chorused.

"You'll fight for it."

"... Fight each other?"

He chuckled, thunder in the chamber. "Of course not." He clicked his digits. The door behind us swung open, and we turned in fear. "You'll be fighting them."

* * *

**Aaand, in case the identities of the non-Seekers aren't clear, Soundwave, Shockwave, Dreadwing, Skyquake, Thunderblast, Breakdown, Knock Out, Fracture. Featuring a special guest in the next chapter, one who I am borrowing from the Autobots. What? They're not using him, I'm showing him some love.**


	2. Chapter 2

**It should really come as no surprise who the guest 'bot is. Come on, guys. You've been with me for so many fics. You should've expected it. Just so you know, the language that the experiments speak is Latin... kind of. I translated the words into Latin, then reversed the sentences and the spelling of each word, and broke it up so that each syllable is its own word, and each word is its own sentence. I thought it was clever.**

**This fic is being put on a slight hiatus, because my Government class has been the source of another, more morbid inspiration. More on that later, once Chapter One is published.**

* * *

I was horrified. They were... they were mechanoid... but yet... their sounds, their posture... everything about them was... animal.

"Seekers, meet your opponents," Megatron drawled.

There were two of them, chains lashed around their necks and bodies, acting as leashes, connecting them to a pair of handlers. The smaller figure was dark, either darkest blue or black, a female. Her optics were a bright, burning violet. Her dental plates were bared, pointed, and two of them were tipped with blue energon. Her digits were curled into claws. The larger was a white-painted male with scorching, feline, gold optics. He had doorwings on his back, but rather than protrude outward, they were raised a little and turned back, similar to ours. But, he wasn't a Seeker. His frame was too durable. He looked like a Praxian, but that was a difficult call to make.

The purple, cycloptic mech stepped forward.

"Prowl and Ember were less-than-successful military science experiments," he explained in a near-monotone. "We were attempting to create perfect killing machines by reseting the minds of two brain-dead patients and wiring them to work like those of aggressive animals, Ember a turbofox, Prowl a Kaon houndroid. Needless to say, it mostly overloaded their systems, so now we do have our 'perfect killing machines', but their mental capacity prevents us from sending them into battle."

My brothers and I looked to the pair of snarling creatures. They'd moved into less aggressive posture now, and were babbling to one another, the language harsh and staccato, sounding like a strange bastardization of Tryptic.

"_Sa ruta erc. Ce ah. Tnus. Diuq? No an ort erb aiz. Tuns?_" the male asked his companion. His voice was deep, with a growl behind it.

"_Mea. Ire div. Non_," the female responded. Her voice carried all the sweetness of poison-laced rust. "_Od erc. Sie. Er at rec_."

"_Tnu rec ef. Sib on. Ret ila. Non_."

Lord Megatron stood again. "You seven will be taken to the Kaon Arena, where you will first fight my three most proficient warriors, and then the survivors of the first round will go on to fight Prowl and Ember."

The survivors? What did he mean "the survivors"?


	3. Chapter 3

**This is the end of this one, and, ah, clearly, something else happened to make Starscream power-hungry, because he really isn't here. He almost doesn't want to join anymore, actually.**

* * *

We were shoved into an arena that I recognized as Kaon Stadium. The first round, we had to fight the trio from the throne room: the twins and the femme. I watched as four of my brothers, Sunstorm, Dirge, Thrust, and Ramjet, fell to their power. Only Thundercracker, Skywarp, and I remained.

The faceplate-less mech and the cyclops appeared in the ring, pulling the snarling experiments behind them.

"_Dimitte eos_," Megatron growled in a language I didn't recognize. The quiet mechs removed the chains from the experiments and transformed, jetting out of the pit and into the stands. He looked over the experiments, who were focused on him. "_Oportet caede duos tantum parce_."

"_Ret sig am. Ma ite_," the mech snarled.

"_Cnun. Sota tcej bus. Sol la. Sum aig rog. Cis_," the female growled. "_Te cil. Ere gil es. Su mus. Sit at up. Son. Is in. Des?_"

"_Mud nat rec. Ib is. Sit as. Sum is sic aci ffe. Tluv. Ret sig am._"

"_Satis loqui!_" Megatron roared, and the creatures shut up, looking at us hungrily. That was the only way to describe their expression. Hungry. "_Interfice!_"

At his cry, the creatures pounced on us, like houndroids on a petro-rabbit.

We scrambled. I looked for Skywarp, who, honestly, couldn't hold his own. I'd had to beg the others to bring him, because of this simple fact. I was distracted by the appearance of the female creature, who materialized in front of me. Her opposite was currently snapping at Thundercracker, who'd managed to climb up the wall and cling to it just out of the creature's reach.

I heard the Decepticons laughing at him. I would've laughed as well: our eldest brother was a coward.

"Star!" I heard my youngest brother yell. The female stopped her snarling at me, and turned to him. She took off running toward him.

"Skywarp! Move!"

"Wha-" He looked up, and, in a panic, teleported to me.

The female stood still, confused. "_Sit si ba_. _Ouq_. _Coh. Tse. Diuq?_"

"Behind you, idiot!" one of the males in the stands yelled. "Turn around!"

She turned, and spotted us, snarling loudly as she lowered herself into a posture reminiscent of some sort of hunter. "_En as. Tec il. Non. Douq. Tnu ic af. Ma i te. Des. Ut. Mauq. Oic sen!_"

"Skywarp, get out of here, you'll survive, we won't. They'll take you, and they'll have gained a great tactician," I advised my brother.

"No, I've seen how they work. If I teleport out of here, they'll execute me. For cowardice."

The female charged us down, and pounced on Skywarp. I tried to pull her off as best I could, but I found myself thrown against a wall. My head hit it hard enough to knock me unconscious.

*******  
When I awoke, the horror that met my focusing optics was unspeakable.

My brothers, slain, soaked in and dripping their own fluids. Slaughtered like helpless animals by carnivorous predators.

Thundercracker was still clinging to the ledge he'd sought safety on, but he was ripped in half from the waistplates down. One leg was just beneath him, severed from the knee joint. I couldn't see the rest of him anywhere, and, looking back, I don't think I wanted to.

Skywarp was still lying where he'd fallen, his torso torn open and various innards torn out and thrown around. One arm was flung out toward me, the hand palm up, as if he'd tried to reach for me, but I didn't answer. I couldn't answer. He was at least intact, but that didn't console me.

I saw the savages across the pit, forced to kneel as they were shouted at by their master.

"-told you to leave one! Even the coward would've sufficed! I should've listened to Soundwave and taken the seven of them, this experiment was a failure! My scientists assured me that you two_ weren't_ completely useless!"

Megatron kicked the male in his torso plating, causing him to curl inward on himself, then forced him completely to the ground by stepping heavily on the joint between his winglets. He turned his attention to the female then, grabbing her around the neck and picking her up to throw her against the wall like she had done to me. Neither of them made a sound, probably were trained not to.

I rose to my feet, knowing that now, my only way to survive at all was to reveal my presence, and join their ranks. If I faked death, and they saw my faceplates again, they'd kill me as an Autobot spy.

Well, if I'd made it this far, why not go all the way?

The cyclops noticed me, and tapped his master on the shoulder.

"WHAT, Shockwave?"

"One lives."

The warlord turned, and actually smiled at me. "Well well. One _does_ live. Ember, _affer_."

The female scurried over, growling at me as she pulled me over. I had to think of a story, and quickly.

"What is your name, _soldier_?"

"Starscream, Sir."

"Well, Starscream. I must admire your ingenuity. You tricked my pets into thinking they had killed you."

"Yes, Sir. It was the only way for me to ensure my survival. Your pets are vicious creatures. I wouldn't have stood a chance in a 'fair' fight."

I was once told that the only thing more impressive about me than my intelligence, was my ability to lie. I believe that it is the knack I have for false grovelling.

"Well then. It appears that you are the only remaining mech vying for a position in my army. And since I have but one place available, it would seem only logical to reward you with it. Knock Out!"

The red medic scuttled over, answering the warlord in what I can only describe as a flirtatious simper of a voice. "Yes, Lord Megatron?"

"Fix Starscream up, and, ah, see about branding him with our insignia."


End file.
